The New User-Friendliness

The term user-friendly seems to have first emerged in the 1970s, with some sources crediting a 1976 paper on something called the "G-EXEC system" and others saying that Harlan Crowder, an American software designer, coined the term in 1972. Either way, it comes from the computing world, where it is still at home: today, we speak of apps, websites, and robo-advisor platforms as being user-friendly. (Or not).

Since its debut, however, the term's realm of usage seems to have broadened, as is evidenced by statements like a marketplace should be user-friendly. I suppose that this makes sense because, ever since the 1990s, there have been marketplaces that are strictly online, complete with vendors, shoppers, and advertisers. Being online, their shoppers are also users, so the whole experience can be user-friendly.